


Not That Easy

by DinosaurTheology



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Conversations, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Short & Sweet, Sweet, Television Watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 18:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8543848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinosaurTheology/pseuds/DinosaurTheology
Summary: A Friendship Thursday spent watching anime hits a little too close to home for Star. The life of a magical warrior princess is never easy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Star vs. the Forces of Evil was created by the wonderful Daron Nefcy, not me. Also, if you've never seen the show they're watching (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) I cannot recommend it enough. It's on Hulu and Netflix.

After watching twelve episodes of it and one finale in the form of a movie, Star Butterfly concluded that Puella Magi Madoka Magica was the closest thing she'd ever seen to a documentary about the life, and likely death or worse, of a magical girl. "Yep," she says, nodding, "that's pretty much the long and short of it." She's slumped against Marco on the overstuffed sofa and their usual, comfortable silence during TV time had lapsed into a distinctly uncomfortable one. This, her first conversational salle since Sayaka Miki's tragic, gruesome fat, guttered like a candle against the void.

"Really?"

She shrugs.

"So," he says, "it's that bad?"

She shrugs again.

"Think I'm gonna need more than that."

She draws her knees up to her chest. "It's not like, totally the same. I mean, there aren't little evil squirrel-cats tricking us into selling our souls or anything but... yeah. You've seen what we do, Marco. It's dangerous and a warrior's life can end just like that." She snaps fingers that he sometimes forgets are as slim and delicate as they truly are.

"Your mom seems to have it pretty together."

"Yeah, but she's really rare. The force of will she has, how deep she can dig... I'm amazed at her every day. It's like being the daughter of a freakin' mountain." 

He studies her face for a long moment. One of the blushing hearts has been replaced with a white, frowning skull and the other with a spinning hourglass. It indicates a contemplative mood that's rare for one so energetic that she often seems frantic. He's learned to read and appreciate these signs of her essentially alien nature which had once been more than a little disturbing but are, now, something he cannot imagine life without.

She speaks again, venturing from her reverie. "Do you remember Mina Loveberry?"

"You mean kookoo bazooie dumpster lady? Yeah, do I ever." He grimaces. "So that acid casualty is how a magical warrior usually turns out?"

"Er..." Star scratches the side of her nose. "She's kind of what we call a 'successful' retired magical warrior."

He winces. "You're serious?"

"Totes." 

"Some of our Earth warriors can get a little weird, too. It's a hazard of, you know, being a warrior, I guess," he says. "Do you remember my cousin Eduardo?"

"The one who won't sit by windows and knocked the grill over when a firework went off at your dad's Fourth of July party?"

"Yeah, when he was in the Army--being an earth warrior--is what made him like that. He saw and did some stuff that he just couldn't handle, and he needs some help now, but he's still a great guy with a family that loves him."

"So... I kind of have that to look forward to, if I'm lucky. Going nuts. If I don't, like, get melted or exploded or eaten or cut in half by something. Yay."

 

"But at least you won't turn into a giant, psycho mermaid wearing a helmet."

"Le sigh. Poor Sayaka. But... that's not too far off from what could happen, you know. You've seen it, even. But I'd be a super freaked out purple butterfly, instead."

"You mean..."

"Yuppers. My Mewberty transformation. If a magical warrior pushes too far, digs too deep, then... poof." She mimes a small explosion with her hands. "No more magical warrior. It gets all freaky-deaky."

"But I've seen your mom use it, too. She could go back and forth pretty much at will."

"Like I said, Mom's pretty special. She can dig deeper than anyone I've ever known of without getting lost. Even Glossaryk doesn't understand it and he understands, like, everything."

"No. No he does not understand everything. He understands pudding."

"Well, he said he did."

"Glossaryk says a lot of things. Mostly about pudding."

"It always means something else, though. Something... deep. Y'know, like when taught me about dipping down in the first place. Or when he helped you during my Mewberty phase."

"He didn't help a whole heck of lot, Star," Marco says. He counts on his fingers. "Mostly he mistook me for a girl, demanded pudding and ordered me to 'scrape the sides!'" He mimics Glossaryk's high pitched command.

"But that taught you how to help me, or save the school from my Mewberty transformation or... something."

"It taught me how to feed a little, weird blue man pudding," Marco says. "I'll give you that."

"See? Lessons all over. Important ones!" She pauses again, nibbles the tip of her wand. "So, I guess what I'm saying is... you know how crazy things can get. We've been in some gnarly situations--I've put you in some gnarly situations. And you've seen Mina... you know how ugly it can get."

"Not quite Oktavia von Seckendorff ugly, but yeah. Turning into an ogre demon and then crawling around with mud all over your face like that is pretty grim."

She squirms. "Well, you're going into this with your eyes open and I guess... I guess I just wanted you to know that you don't have to feel like, obligated to help me out. To go on these adventures and stuff. You're the safe kid, after all. You've got a plan, a place... a whole life ahead of you. I'm probably going to be fighting monsters until one gets lucky and kills me or I go totally freaking banagic."

"You mean you're not already?"

She smacks his arm. As always, it's hard enough to hurt and apt to leave a bruise. She does not know her own prodigious strength. "You know what I mean!" She fidgets again, finds a more comfortable place to lean against him, looks up with enormous, shining blue eyes. "I just wanted to say that you don't have to put yourself into danger just to be with me. It'd kill me if anything happened to you, just as sure as a monster would, and... I'll still hang out with you and everything, just... I want you to be safe."

He laughs at her. Actually laughs! She's not sure if he's actually gone banagic or if she should be very, very offended. "Marco!" she says, and whacks him again. "Marco Diaz you explain yourself right this instant!"

It sounds enough like Queen Moon, or his own mom, to break the spell. "I'm sorry, Star, just... jeez. Drama queen, much?"

"Well, I am a princess. I'm going to be a queen. Why not of drama?"

"The point is, I don't go on adventures with you because I feel like I have to, or because you drag me along or something."

"Really?"

"I go with you because I want to, because it would kill me, too, if anything happened to you and I want you to be safe. I am your guide to earth, remember?"

She smiles. "Earth, sure, but some of the stuff that we get into... you've just got a red belt, Marco, not a narwhal blast or warnicorns or a spider in a top hat or pinwheel starberry tree frogs or anything like that."

"Neither does your dad," he says.

She thinks a moment, "Marco, I love my dad but he's a total freak. I don't think we can compare the situations quite like that."

"My point is, though, that I go with you because I want to, to try to keep you safe just like you want to keep me. Don't forget that I'm the safe kid. You're not getting rid of the safe kid, not that easy."

"Yeah, the safe kid," she says. She sighs. "I guess you're right. Just... be careful, okay?"

"I will. And you, too. Promise."

"I promise." She thumbs through options on his hulu account. "Let's watch something happier, next time. Something with vampires! I like them. They sparkle." She settles on something. "Ooh, Hellsing... and it says it's 'ultimate.' Ultimate vampires... that's gonna be good."

He rolls his dark eyes. Life with Star is never boring, can even be a little crazy, but earth is a pretty great place as long as she's around.


End file.
